Torch Festival
Name: Torch Festival for Yi people
Date: the 24" of the sixth lunar month
With a population of 7.7623 million
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| The might of the Torch Festival. | according to the 2000 national census, the Yi ethnic group lives mainly in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangxi. The Yi language belongs to the Yi branch of the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language family and has six dialects. Yi characters, as the earliest syllabic script in China, were formed in the 13t" century and more than L000 of them are still commonly used today.
The Yi people used to believe in many gods and worshiped ancestors. In Yunnan and Guizhou, many Yi people accept the influence of Buddhism and Taoism.
The Yi people have many traditional festivals, of which the Torch Festival is the grandest and the most important. It is also known as "the Xinghui (return of the stars) Festival." The festival has several origins according to different legends. A popular legend is about a wrestling contest between an ancient Yi hero and a god on the 24th of the si
xth lunar month. Both of them had great strength but finally, the Yi hero wrestled and killed the god, leaving another god very angry. In revenge, the god sent locusts in immense swarms onto the earth and ate up almost all the corps in three days and three nights. The Yi people had to hold aloft torches together to drive locusts away. All the locusts were burnt to death during the three days and three nights of torch burning. From this time on, Yi people light torches on that day with intentions to kill harmful insects and ensure a bumper harvest.
Usually, Yi people start preparation for the arrival of the Torch Festival one month in advance. Children wander around hills and wild fields picking up dry, long and straight wormwoods for torch making. In the Liang Mountain area, Yi people usually only use wormwood, instead of bamboo shoots or pine branches, to make torches since they believe wormwood can help eliminate the evils. The number of torches prepared depends on how many members there are in the family. Usually, they will prepare three torches
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| Yi younsters sing sing and dancing. | for one person, and of course, everyone wishes to have more and longer torches prepared for them.
At the time, parents need to prepare the food for sacrificial rites and holiday clothes for every family member. Girls need to get colorful turban and skirts in ready... Some girls are even busy at making Yi-style suits, waistbands or embroidered wallets for their lovers. Young men also buy silver earrings, blue capes or yellow umbrellas for girls they have fallen in love with. Every household purchases a large quantity of festival food including wine, sweets, noodle and fruit, while the whole village as a whole will purchase one cow or several cows and kill them during the festival as sacrifices for the Fire God.
Finally, the day of the 24'h of the sixth lunar month arrives. The Yi people first clean their houses in the morning on that day. Then, everyone dresses in holiday best. Women are busy at cooking; men are busy at cow killing and beef distribution. The Yi people believe that eating beef on that day will bring them good luck and peaceful life throughout the whole coming year.
When night falls, the Yi people will have a grand family dinner and worship their ancestors and gods. Then the torch parade begins. Men and women of all ages hold aloft torches, shout auspicious words and walk around their houses and fields. Torches wind like so many flying fire dragons in the hills, illuminating fields and villages, dispelling evil.
What's more, all the villagers, in their holiday best, will gather at the main festival site, putting their torches together to make a big bonfire. Their bonfire party usually lasts till the next morning, young Yi men blowing flutes, plucking moon-shaped instruments and three-stringed guitars while dancing, young women dancing to the rhythm, clapping their hands. Cheerful flames leap up to the sky, crackling and spluttering. Shouts of joy together with the sound of the gongs and drums make a sea of rejoicing.
In the daytime, the Yi people watch wrestling, horse race, bullfight and other performances, giving the traditional festival more content. The festival now combines the traditional ceremony, tourism with trade negotiation and investment attraction and has become more colorful.
Many other ethnic groups including Bai, Naxi, Hani, Lahu and Pumi also celebrate the Torch Festival. |
